Member postings for DiogenesII

I look forward to that. ..You plan to leave the crank 'open' rather than close it in?

If it's of any help at all, fitting the Y scale to a Warco might have presented similar problems - draught on the base casting, lack of parallelism of casting sides to table axis, no machined reference surfaces etc..

Having spent a couple of fruitless hours offering things up and taking them down again, I finally used assorted M4 grub scews to make the brackets adjustable (see sketch below) - it allows one to set everything up perpendicular / parallel with straightedge, square and clock, and once the foundations are 'square' and solid then hanging the scale and head off them in the correct relationship can be done using standard 90 angles and flat stock..

Another who thinks that it's an interesting project, but has serious misgivings as to whether it's viable - as user observations/perceptions rather than expert opinion;

In general, the bearings seem to outlast the usefulness of beds, saddles, and tailstocks - the cost of refurbishing these is commonly commented on & baulked at by all but the most determined restorer.

I think the most problematic difficulty is that you will be sending out an expensive 'raw material' that relies on the customer's ability to hand fit and scrape them to the level of a time-served craftsman for success - (It wouldn't surprise me at all to find that this WAS the reason for their original discontinuation) - one can imagine who will be to blame when it doesn't go well..

It might be a more realistic business proposition to practice the whole process until you have the perfect job down pat, and then offer the complete bearing refurbishment service from start to finish yourself.. ..people did (and do) make money from such things as magneto refurbishment & instrument repair on this basis..

I can't keep my counsel any longer - this being the fourth time within a week that I've seen that online supplier mentioned.. the one who, as an example, charges this;

Brass Round Bar 7mm

for this;

7mm Dia Brass Round

..other independent suppliers are widespread and just as competitive..

My eyes were opened to this web-supplier when last week I bought 210metres of small dia. black mild steel round from my local family-run stockholder - price £270, dropped in my yard in 3m lengths, with a VAT invoice & receipt.

Just out of interest, I checked whether it would have been cheaper to buy online - the M4U business was the first up - if I'd have bought from them in whole-bar lengths, the price would have been £403+ delivery. As an exact-same like-for-like order in half-bars, the price came out at £699+delivery.. yes, that's what I thought, so I checked it twice more - £699..

Please do shop around and support independant stockists - you could conceivably be paying 2 or 3 times more for your metal than you need to..

The weather-pattern of the last few weeks has been particularly bad for condensation - cold dry northerly air has been displaced by warn wet southerly air in repeated sequences of fronts passing through.. Last Sunday, in my unheated & draughty shed, everything was dry in the morning, but by lunchtime was quite literally running with condensation.

It's vitally important not to let any fabric coverings lie directly on the bed / shears / table / any machined surface, because they absorb moisture from the atmosphere and then hold it in direct contact with the metal as it evaporates, causing corrosion.

I keep everything oiled, throw a light sheet loosely over the machines to keep the dust and animal-poop off, and try to twiddle the handles / rack the saddle / raise and lower the head, etc. as & when I'm in the shed for any purpose..

Oh yes, and of course any freshly cut surfaces develop surface rust, and all my free-cutting steel gains a patina.. ..c'est la vie..

Edited By DiogenesII on 16/12/2020 09:09:08

If you do decide on a rear-mount toolpost, be mindful that the cutting forces will be pulling upwards on the flanges of the single T slot - you will need to spread the load as much as possible to prevent them tearing out.. ..especially if the tool is placed over to the side of the slide..

..might it be better to tap some mounting holes, or make a steel pallet to mount it on..?

Edited By DiogenesII on 15/12/2020 10:45:23

Just to shake you out of your reminiscences, these are what they are trying to control

Amazon UK 2.25" Heavy Gauge Wire Darts .40 Caliber

'Outdoor Sports equipment, apparently.. ..I guess most of you were teenage engineers once, if you can imagine what the possibilities are for making these a serious weapon, you can bet that it's already been done..

I should say that until this thread came up. I had no prior knowledge that such things were considered a plaything...

JB Cutting Tools do 'em.. 10 or 12mm shank for 11mm insert

SVJCL 11 Indexable turning tool

..check which 'hand' you need..

Edited By DiogenesII on 14/12/2020 20:55:30

I think it's meant to have "setrscrew - ball bearing - setscrew" ..in the sense that the inner screw sets the adjustment, and the ball prevents it from being turned by the outer locking screw...

SCBCR 06, I think.. I got mine from JBTools here;

JB Tools SCBCR 06

..The Earlier thread is here;

Diamond shaped tool...

Edited By DiogenesII on 05/12/2020 17:11:17

..if it hadn't been for the lapse into French, I don't Le Petomane would have sprung quite so immediately to mind.. ..however.. ..just thought I'd share that with you ...sweet dreams, all..

..another satisfied user of the JBTholder as per Rod & Jason.. ..they work well on the ML, and I do have to say that carbide insert tooling is what's in the toolpost for a rapidly increasing majority of general turning work that I do.. ..if you haven't yet tried CCGT inserts, I really would suggest buying a couple of those to trial in your existing holders as well..

Might be worth checking that tightening the screw(s) isn't causing the die to cock in the holder, preventing it from sitting completely flat - I've come across dies with poorly formed or incorrectly positioned screw seats now & again..

No, it has a male JT6 taper on the end..

Mine is a very recent one - the 'Test Report' gives the date July 28 2020 - had it long enough to have used it in both H and V for making small IC parts, flats/angles on tooling, and odd-jobbing where I've wanted to swap jobs still in-the-chuck from lathe-to-mill etc., but not long enough to have done any hard radial milling....

FWIW - the worm adjustment is sufficient to completely remove any backlash if required (though I prefer to back it off a bit) and the rotation is as acceptably smooth and even all the way round as one coud wish for in a cheap table. It doesn't feel as if there is any gross binding, burring, poor mating of worm & wheel, or foundry debris inside.

'Flatness', 'Parallelism' & 'Concentricity' all seem good - I had to dress-back one small bruise on the corner of the base when I first took it out of the box, since when it's been fine - by that I mean that I haven't noticed any errors/inconsistencies even making very small parts on a mill with DRO.. ..as a general rule, I rely on any faults revealing themselves to me through use, rather than go seeking them..

I wouldn't feel any apprehension in side- or slot-milling steel on it, within the normal expectations of "hobby" work..

I'd be genuinely interested to hear the circumstances under which other tables have failed.

I'd buy another..

For the record / in a nutshell.. the mechanism feels very good (for the money). The exterior finish isn't markedly better than other far-eastern equipment I have, but all the graduations are consistent, crisp and clear.. I'd guess that the money goes into the mechanism and grinding, and that the economies are made in the paint and fastenings / minor ancillaries.

I have a Soba dividing set for it - the quality of that acceptably good, the plates (thick CI) very crisply finished, with properly formed & chamfered, consistent & even holes. The brass sector arms are well-fitted and neatly made, likewise the plunger assembly and it's bracket. The fits with the mating parts of the Vertex table are comfortably snug & in perfect alignment.

I have a fair bit of Far-Eastern tooling from various (deliberately) UK suppliers - it's consistently of useable quality - there seems to be at least some healthy competition at any given price-point - I'd have thought a £250 Soba table to be more-or-less comparable to a £250 Vertex one? ..

..the pattern of both squares (the one in the box, and bigger one to left of the V blocks) - with bevelled edges and notch - is a "precision" pattern rather than "workshop" pattern - you should look at them carefully, unless you are sure they are just cheap c**p.. ..Do they have any marks/DIN stamps?

Vertex at Rotagrip;

Vertex 6"/150mm Horizontal/Vertical Rotary..

I have a Vertex, and like it..

Is that hole threaded? ..it looks exactly what I'd expect if some former owner has used it to jack the chuck off it's taper before.. ..the 'witness' further in looks as if the end of a bolt has borne on the end of the taper within.

Pretty sure that the other Meddings "lightweight" offering, the Driltru, has a male Jacobs Taper on the end of the spindle. Certain that the smaller Pollards do.

I'd always thought that screwed chucks only really became widespread on pistol drills?

+1 Gauge plate (Ground Flat Stock)..

..isn't the danger with brass that steel or iron particles get pressed into the softer surface and then start to wear the bed itself?

Might be worth slackening and "fiddling" the jaw plates, even if you have to remount it on the table and clock it in - it's worth taking a little trouble now to establish a known "good" datum for the future, surely? ..not sure what kind of wiggle room there is, if you slacken them off, you'll be able to see if it looks possible, or is a complete non-starter, before committing, I guess..